An increasing number of applications make use of virtual representations of physical spaces. However, the creation of such virtual models is expensive and time consuming, involving direct measurement of individual aspects of the physical space, photography and sophisticated graphical tools. In some instances, artists are hired to create three dimensional models of physical spaces from images of the spaces using interactive modeling tools. In other instances, specialized imaging equipment is required to capture the physical parameters of a physical space which can then be used to define the aspects of a model. These techniques require a substantial investment in the time of specialized experts and/or specialized hardware. This is unfortunate, because it makes creating three dimensional models of a physical space too costly for many applications.
Thus, there is a need for a method of defining a model based on images of a physical space that is relatively quick and inexpensive, so that virtual representations of physical spaces can be constructed more easily and used in a wide variety of applications where they were not previously practical due to the time and/or cost associated with producing such models.